dear SyndicateRoom member,
In 1947 ethologist Karl von Frisch was
looking at bees.
More precisely, he was studying the runs
and turns of a bee’s dance, and what he
discovered was something incredible: the
dancing bee was communicating to its
hive the exact location of a nearby food
source. The direction of the dance showed
where the food was in relation to the
sun, and the length of time the bee spent
doing a particular move scientists have
affectionately termed the ‘waggle’ defined
how far away the food was from the hive.
The enthusiasm with which the bee danced
reflected the quality of the food.
Just think of what that tells us about bee
culture. That bee could have made its life
a lot easier by jealously guarding its find,
nipping out every afternoon for the easy
win of collecting some of that withheld
pollen in the guise of hard work. But it
didn’t. The bee did what it had to for the
good of the hive: it danced.
No wonder bees are internationally
recognised as a symbol of collaboration.
When you look at a startup, you want to
see a team that’s made up entirely of bees
– bees that strive towards the same goal
with a determination that transcends mere
contractual obligation. You want bees that

will venture forth and discover their own
unique meadows brimming with delectable
pollen and return to share that knowledge
with the rest of the team. You want bees
that are passionate about their hive.
The metaphor begins to struggle beneath
the weight of common sense at this point,
but fortunately Marcin puts across the
idea better in his article on team dynamics
(page 6), in which he also divulges three
points of practical due diligence to help you
determine whether or not the startup team
you’re looking at is made up of bees.
Of course, no hive would be complete
without a queen bee to lead the team
to sweet prosperity. SyndicateRoom is
fortunate enough to have two. The parallel
interviews with Gonçalo and Tom (page 16)
illustrate how businesses can benefit from
having different personalities at the helm.
But are two heads really better than one?
(Turn to page 14 to find out.)
Businesses, organisations and communities
cannot survive in a vacuum, and neither
can individual investors, if for a far more
visceral reason. Where a beekeeper places
multiple hives near one another, the bees
pollinate and work together, grow off each
other. Likewise, the best businesses look to
collaborate with those outside the company
as well as people within.

The

SYNDICATE // collaboration // 4

contents
// PAGE 6

// PAGE 26

DUE DILIGENCE:
TEAM DYNAMICS

PREPARING
FOR THE GDPR

Marcin Zaba defines three things
investors need to consider about the
team before investing

SyndicateRoom Data Protection Officer
Eleanor Richards walks us through the
new regulation

Miruna Girtu introduces the latest
business to come through our bespoke
capital-raising service

The results of our annual survey are in,
and they point to a growing knowledge
gap among UK investors

// PAGE 40

// PAGE 72

INTERVIEW:
CODEPLAY SOFTWARE

WELCOME TO THE
FUNDED CLUB

Charles Macfarlane presents the
company making safe autonomous
vehicles a reality

Let’s put our hands together for the
latest companies to join
SyndicateRoom’s portfolio

// PAGE 50

SR PORTFOLIO:
THE BROMLEY BOYS
The film you helped fund is about to
have its world premiere! We speak with
Screenwriter Warren Dudley

DUE
DILIGENCE
TEAM DYNAMICS

Startups and scale-ups live and die by the
quality of the people behind the business.
However, it’s not just the skills, experiences
and determination of individuals that are
indicators of success – it’s how they are
organised and work together as a team.
Based on observations of our 130+ portfolio
companies and other businesses (as well
as countless lectures by the incredible
Mark de Rond), I’ve come to think that three
ingredients are required to sustain and
nurture a high-performance team.

The

SYNDICATE // collaboration // 6

When doing due diligence, I’d encourage
investors to consider the following points
before investing.

Marcin
Zaba

Head of Marketing

WORKING TEAM VS WORKING GROUP
Before we get to our three points of
actionable due diligence, let’s define the
subtle but important distinction between a
working team and a working group.
A working group is two or more individuals
whose work depends on one another’s
accomplishments, but who don’t necessarily
work together. Efforts are coordinated and
controlled by a manager. An example would
be the sales department of a business
There’ll typically be a hierarchical structure
with a head of sales who manages sales
executives. They’ll all be working towards
the same monthly sales target, but it’s down
to the individual sales person to reach her
goals, and the work of one person might
not overlap with the work of another. In
fact, overlapping work might be detrimental
to the goal – it’d be confusing if two sales
executives were selling to the same
customer in parallel.
A working team, on the other hand,
is two or more individuals working
interdependently to achieve a specified
common goal. There will be a manager,
but her role is to enable and facilitate the

work of her colleagues and not necessarily
to control activities. Most startups operate
as a team, whereby people with different
yet complementary skill sets combine their
efforts to solve a specific problem.
Investors would do well not only to examine
the CVs of the team, but also to ask
questions about how its members work
together. Here are the top three ingredients
that foster an effective team.

The

SYNDICATE // collaboration // 8

ACTIONABLE DUE DILIGENCE
Ask the CEO what their short-term
goals are and then corroborate
whether another team member
has the same reply. Ask them
about user cases for their product
or service and pay attention to the
accuracy of the language: does
more than one person on the
team really understand the nub of
the problem they’re working on?

1. CONCEPTUAL CLARITY
It sounds simple, but ensuring every team
member is working to the same welldefined objective is critical. This is important
for all teams and businesses of all sizes,
but in a startup it can prove a matter of life
or death. If team members misunderstand
what they’ve been working on, time – and
therefore money – is spent and pop!, the
once-promising startup runs out of cash
and becomes just another statistic of love’s
labour’s lost.
A familiar example to anyone involved in
startups would be developing a product
for the first time. The engineers aren’t likely
to be successful if they just improvise.
They need to know very specifically what
their potential customers want and it’s
the product manager’s or CEO’s role to
communicate this accurately (in agile
development, this process is called ‘story
writing’, whereby a very specific user case is
described).
This is also why all those seemingly
pernickety KPIs, OKRs and other goal-setting
frameworks are so important – they force
people to think about what they are working
to achieve through their day-to-day actions
and stay on track.

2. RESPONSIBILITY WITH OPEN
DISCUSSION
ACTIONABLE DUE DILIGENCE
Give the CEO some feedback
on an aspect of the business (it
could be product, marketing,
finance, HR) and listen to how they
deal with constructive criticism.
If they are willing to have an
open conversation about the
point you’ve raised, then they’re
also more likely to lend their
teammates an open ear and
thereby run an effective team.

Project management 101 dictates that for
a task to be completed, someone must be
responsible for completing it. The same
applies in working teams, though in this
case the conversation around how the
project gets done should include the input
of everyone with a valid opinion. The person
responsible for a task must be open to
receiving feedback, ideas and criticism from
their teammates.
It’s through open discussion and debate
that great ideas are developed. The best
teams will be very good at developing
effective ideas this way.
From an outside perspective, this can often
appear messy and dysfunctional, with long
discussions and personality clashes about
how to best arrive at a goal. While this is the
inevitable path to allow for anything creative
to happen, it’s the leader’s role to facilitate
the discussion to a point where the best
way forward is determined.

It’s imperative
that people feel
that they can call out
bad ideas or
suggest improvements.

3. PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY

The

SYNDICATE // collaboration // 10

The most important aspect of a highperformance team (and one that we focus
on a lot at SyndicateRoom) is psychological
safety. Simply put, people need to feel
comfortable that they can take reasonable
risks without facing negative consequences.
It has important repercussions for how
members of a team collaborate and how
decisions are made. Have you been in a
situation where a group of people has done
something that no one really wanted to do,
but no one called out it was a bad idea?
In an effective and psychologically safe
team, it’s imperative that people feel that
they can call out bad ideas or suggest
improvements. Critiquing other people’s
work is obviously easier than being
criticised, so teammates also need to be

comfortable receiving negative or critical
feedback without taking it personally.
However, we are all human and even
psychologically safe teams can develop
frustrated members. This can arise from
completely innocent beginnings. Perhaps
one team member is better than another
at arguing their point of view, leading to a
perceived favouring of their opinions.
Effective team leaders will create
opportunities for team members to
systematically let off steam and tell
their colleagues where they may have
overstepped the mark or where something
someone said may have encroached on the
personal. It’s important to do this bit by bit
as you go along, otherwise grudges build
up, trust among colleagues begins to slide
and ultimately efficacy fails.

ACTIONABLE DUE DILIGENCE
If you can, speak to a team
member and ask a few questions
about how ideas are discussed.
How are they scrutinised? Are
expert opinions taken into
consideration? Better yet, take
the bull by the horns: ask them
outright what would happen to an
employee if they openly criticised
something the CEO proposed.

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SYNDICATE // collaboration // 12

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SR Live is a weekly live-streamed event where you can meet the businesses
currently raising funds on SyndicateRoom and have your questions answered.
After a short presentation to give you a flavour of their company, each
entrepreneur is grilled on air by one of our very own investment analysts.

TUNE IN AND WATCH PREVIOUS EPISODES AT
www.syndicateroom.com/events/sr-live

due diligence
ONE HEAD OR TWO?
When it comes to assessing a founding
team, the majority of angels tend to agree
that two heads are better than one, and so
the solopreneur gets overlooked from the
get go. Co-founders are seen as better able
to lead a business to prosperity by pooling
together all their strengths and in so doing
diluting away any weaknesses. Co-founders
are the answer to successful startups.

The

SYNDICATE // collaboration // 14

Only, that isn’t quite what the data suggests.
Information collated from thousands of
startups on CrunchBase tells a different
story: more than half of the businesses that
exited had a single founder. More precisely,
if you go by the average, the ideal number
of founders to have is 1.72, which doesn’t
really clear up anything.
It’s true that it’s rare to find all the
characteristics and experience needed
to build a successful business in a single
person – it’s one of the reasons investors
and accelerators might look askance at
entrepreneurs pitching solo. But that
doesn’t mean having two or more people
behind the wheel is guaranteed to work in
the company’s favour.

TWEEDLEDEE AND TWEEDLEDUM
The ideal founding team marries together
complementary skills and experience of all
the founders, with each person contributing
an invaluable and unique way of assessing
a problem. This relies on founders being
different enough to see things from
separate standpoints, yet similar enough
that they can understand where the other is
coming from without resorting to violence.
That’s no easy feat.
And it doesn’t end with skills. Co-founders
need to be able to work together, and this
is possible only through an acknowledged
division of labour and responsibility. Having
two people fighting to control the same
parts of the business is a waste of time and
resources, and should raise several red
flags for anyone thinking about investing.
Entrepreneurs are leaders by nature, but
there is a fundamental difference between
leading and dictating. If you’re speaking
with a founder who refuses to have open
discussions or delegate, it doesn’t bode well
for the health of the team – whether she
has a co-founder or not.

Entrepreneurs
are leaders
by nature.

TROUBLE IN PARADISE
With co-founders in particular, personality
clashes come into play. Are these
people able to talk their way through
disagreements, understand each other’s
concerns and demonstrate respect?
While this also applies to the relationship
between solo founders and the wider
team, any conflict would be mitigated by
the recognition of the company hierarchy:
ultimately, what the founder says goes. Not
so for co-founders.
This makes it all the more vital that even
when arriving at differing opinions, founders
are able to present maintain a united
front – it undermines the entire business
if founders bicker and jibe at one another
rather than holding adult discussions.

A MATTER OF METTLE
As with most things involving people, there
is sadly no go-to answer for what works: it’s
entirely, humanly subjective. But while it’s

impossible to state that one option is more
likely to succeed than the other, it doesn’t
mean there’s nothing you can do. As is so
often the case, it comes down to research.
And there’s no shortcut to good due
diligence. (Although this in-depth guide to
due diligence by industry commentator Rob
Murray Brown can help you make some
broad strokes.)
However many founders there are, meet
them; listen to how they speak about their
business and about the people they work
with. Look into their past performance,
which while not a predictor of future
performance, will help indicate the sort
of leader you’re dealing with. Have they
done something out of the ordinary? How
do they react when their way of thinking is
challenged? Have they led ventures in the
past, even if these ultimately failed? What
did they learn from the experience?
And don’t dismiss the solo founder.
Starting and growing a business is a highstress occupation; however many of them
there are, make sure your founders are up
to the challenge.

The

SYNDICATE // collaboration // 16

Gonรงalo de
Vasconcelos
What drives you to do better each day?
The fact that I absolutely love what I do and
I do what I love.

What is your favourite part of the
working week?
The time spent brainstorming and
discussing opportunities with people across
the team.

What personal challenge have you had
to overcome as SR has grown?

The

SYNDICATE // collaboration // 18

Growing with it and doing my very best not
to stay behind. My own personal learning
curve has been just as steep as the growth
of the company.

How would you describe your
co-founder in one word?
Awesome.

How does your co-founder temper your
personality?
Tom gets the honour of putting up with my
occasional tantrums, which nobody else
does. The only reason why nobody else
gets the same honour is due to Tom’s ability
to handle me and bring me back down to
earth. So whatever he does, it seems to
work pretty well.

What do you think has been most
instrumental to SR’s development?

The

SYNDICATE // collaboration // 20

Every single person, for very different
reasons. Even people that didn’t fit in with
SyndicateRoom and left have contributed
hugely to its development, since Tom and I
learned from the experience.

How do you measure success
(personally or for members of the
SyndicateRoom team)?
By level of happiness, both for me
personally and for everybody at
SyndicateRoom. Society spends a very large
percentage of waking hours working. My
contribution is to try to make us all at SR
enjoy the time we spend in the office and

share in the passion to make it a success.
This includes working with great people,
respecting, challenging, and being open and
transparent with each other.
Working hard shouldn’t be a chore – it
should be enjoyable and ultimately hugely
fulfilling at a personal level for all involved.
Eventually, another measure of success will
be the value of the options the team gets.

How do you view your employees?
Definitively not as employees. As the most
important people to make SyndicateRoom
a great company and a great company to
work for.
Their collective impact is far greater than my
individual impact will ever be.

When hiring, what is the most
important characteristic in a
candidate?
Honest, ambitious and fun. Can I state three
characteristics?

What three qualities does
SyndicateRoom represent to you?

Would you rather fight one horse-sized
spider, or 100 spider-sized horses?

Honesty, ambition and fun.

One horse-sized spider for sure – it would
be a far more exciting challenge.

What do you want to ultimately
achieve with SyndicateRoom?
Happiness for me and for everybody that
helped SR grow.

What is the most important thing when
it comes to company culture?
That it is genuine.
It cannot be a PR or HR stunt, because it
will fall apart. If it is genuine, it will run in the
company’s veins and be present wherever
the company goes.

What do you see yourself doing after
SyndicateRoom?
Starting another business. It’s just too much
fun to ever stop!

Tom
Britton
What drives you to do better each day?
Two things.
First, I grew up with parents who went to
the Olympics and siblings who were of a
similar age to me, so everything became a
competition. I hated losing – at anything.
I once spent a Saturday morning folding
and unfolding clothes so that the next time
we’d race to see who could tidy their rooms
faster, I’d win.

The

SYNDICATE // collaboration // 22

Second, and more importantly, my wife
and child, and the desire to secure our
futures. The more I learn, the more efficient
I become, and the better I can lead the
SyndicateRoom team, which will ultimately
determine our level of success and the size
of any potential exit.

What is your favourite part of the
working week?
Getting into the office, feeding off the vibe
of the team and knowing that we’re all
working hard to make this thing amazing.

What personal challenge have you had
to overcome as SR has grown?
Learning when it’s the right time to let go of
responsibility for parts of the business.
When you start out as just two people, you
wear a lot of hats. As you grow, you need
to realise when it’s time to give the hat
to someone else that’s more capable of
wearing it the right way.

How would you describe your
co-founder in one word?
Driven.

How does your co-founder temper your
personality?
We’re like Starsky and Hutch: we’re from
very different backgrounds and have very
different approaches to most things, but we
trust each other and respect each other’s
decisions, so it works well.

What do you think has been most
instrumental to SR’s development?

The

SYNDICATE // collaboration // 24

Hiring the right people and being incredibly
transparent about what we do, how we do
it, and admitting quickly when we get things
wrong.

How do you measure success
(personally or for members of the
SyndicateRoom team)?
Personal success is enabling others to
achieve their own ambitions and targets.
For others, we have a lot of internal KPIs
and OKRs, but at the end of the day you
have to look at what’s not measured,
things like ‘supporting the rest of the team’,
‘contribution to innovation’ and so much
more you can’t put a figure to.

How do you view your employees?
Extended family. I spend as many waking
hours with them as with my family, so that’s
ultimately what they become.

When hiring, what is the most
important characteristic in a
candidate?
Self-awareness coupled with a desire to
improve. People need to be aware of their
strengths and weaknesses, and be willing
to work on both. People who are self-aware
are also generally better team players.

What three qualities does
SyndicateRoom represent to you?
Access, transparency, equality.

What do you want to ultimately
achieve with SyndicateRoom?
As a company, it’s kind of cheesy, but I want
to be able to look back and know that we’ve
brought funding to companies that are
having a real positive impact on society.

What is the most important thing when
it comes to company culture?

or do something amazing with the whole of
the spider. People would be impressed!

Creating an environment where
disagreement is never personal and
everyone has a sense that discussions are
always between equals.

Now imagine taking a spider-sized horse to
the pub to show off your incredible victory.
You’d just get laughed at…

What do you see yourself doing after
SyndicateRoom?
I’ve got a few ideas for problems I’d like
to try solving and I’d love to teach/mentor
through a business school or acceleratorlike programme, though I think I need a
few more years in the wild before being
experienced enough to be useful.

Would you rather fight one horse-sized
spider, or 100 spider-sized horses?
One horse-sized spider.
First, 100 spider-sized horses would be
scrambling around biting you endlessly and
you’d hardly be able to see or track them.
Second, imagine defeating said horse-sized
spider. You’d have stories to tell forever and
I’m sure a museum would mount the head

The

SYNDICATE // collaboration // 26

feature
PREPARING FOR
THE GDPR
Noise around the tricksy subject of the
General Data Protection Regulation has now
reached a nearly impenetrable buzz. Jargon
and legalese pepper the pages of news sites
across the internet, with every outlet eager
to demonstrate how up to speed it is by
saying the same thing over and over again.
But what does the GDPR mean in practical
terms and what can you do to help keep
your data safe?
Diving into the world of data protection,
one of my biggest surprises was how
far-reaching and integral it is to any
business. Up until several months ago, I
worked in marketing, where I was chiefly
responsible for organising events and
maintaining a dialogue with the companies
in SyndicateRoom’s portfolio.
When the role of Data Protection Officer
came up, I jumped at the chance to get
involved. I needn’t have been so emphatic
– you’ll be entirely unsurprised to discover
that reading through reams upon reams of
compliance guidelines for days on end isn’t
everybody’s idea of a good time.

Eleanor
Richards
Data Protection Officer

Many people simply can’t see the wood
for the wordy and pedantic trees, so to
speak. I’ll admit, they do have a point – the
regulation spans 11 chapters, including 99
articles, and uses flummoxing definitions,
like this gem: ‘... processing relates solely
to the members or to former members of
the body or to persons who have regular
contact with it in connection with its
purposes and that the personal data are
not disclosed outside that body without the
consent of the data subjects.’
But simply memorising the rules isn’t really
what it means to be compliant with the
new regulation. Once you grasp the sober
ins and outs of the GDPR, the creative
possibilities in puzzling out how to perfectly
embed these into your own company
culture are endless. Not only is this ongoing
and subjective challenge intellectually
interesting, it’s truly rewarding to shape the
manner in which a business can relate to its
clients in a way that is safe, respectful and
transparent.
It’s marketing done right.

GDPR AT SYNDICATEROOM

A MATTER OF TRUST AND RESPECT

As many GDPR compliance roadmaps
assert, annual staff training on the topic of
data protection is a key priority along the
journey to compliance. However, for this
training to be effective it needs to be more
than just a yearly tick-box exercise; it must
be tailored to and understood by everyone.

The two main pillars of the GDPR are the
increased rights of individuals, and the
obligations of organisations and those
that process personal data to secure and
respect these rights. When we interact with
services, sign up to agreements and make
enquiries, we invest a level of trust into the
organisations collecting and using our data.
Rather than seeing the introduction of the
GDPR as an onerous obligation to prepare
for, we should recognise its potential to
foster enduring relationships between
organisations and the public through the
building of trust.

The

SYNDICATE // collaboration // 28

This is already underway at SyndicateRoom.
Over the past two months, we’ve been
implementing a programme with teams
within the company, taking them through
how the GDPR will affect their activities day
to day, and helping them understand why
certain procedures need to be carried out.
Namely this means helping the team embed
data protection into everyday processes
and new projects by completing impact
assessments, and together with training,
provide simple reminders for staff to
check when using personal data – ‘Are we
being transparent?’ ‘What is the reason for
processing?’ etc. This level of diligence is
what the GDPR is talking about when it says
‘data protection by design and by default’.
And that’s the key: GDPR isn’t about rote
learning, it’s about understanding the
practical and moral implications of data
protection, respecting the privacy of clients
and knowing what does or does not comply.

As a ‘data subject’ (that’s you, me and
any living person), we share our personal
data across a wide variety of sectors and
services. So, if you are an investor seeking
early-stage investment opportunities
and making financial transactions online,
ensuring you have adequate cyber security
measures on your personal devices is
essential. Appropriate antivirus and firewall
protections are a good start, and it goes
both ways – you would expect organisations
to handle your data securely and uphold
robust security measures. Under the GDPR,
the accountability of loss or accidental
disclosure lies more heavily on ‘controllers’
(those who collect your data and determine
how it is used) and ‘processors’ (those that

Simply memorising
the rules
isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really what it means
to be compliant.

GDPR isn’t about
rote learning,
it’s about understanding
the practical and moral
implications of
data protection.

process data on behalf of the controller).

The

SYNDICATE // collaboration // 30

As an investor, the GDPR will enable you
to scrutinise and determine how your data
is being used and shared with increased
rights. Many organisations are appointing
dedicated data protection officers, such
as yours truly, to oversee compliance and
answer questions on how your data is
processed, who it’s shared with and for how
long it is stored. This is all geared around
helping you have a greater say about how
your data is used, how you are contacted
and for what purpose. Businesses will have
to be a lot more transparent with you,
and follow rules around the fair and lawful
processing of data.

DATA BREACHES AND CYBER ATTACKS
IT security is a fundamental consideration
of data protection, and arguably operates
the controls for demonstrating compliance
with the GDPR. Businesses will need to
put processes in place for handling data
breaches, and implement measures to
mitigate the risk of phishing scams, virus
attacks and hacking scandals the likes of

which seem to be dominating headlines
with increasing frequency.
The daily sentinel email from IT Governance
provides key insights into data breaches
and cyber attacks as the news breaks. One
recent example includes MyFitnessPal, in
which ‘the personal details of approximately
150 million users of Under Armour’s
MyFitnessPal app were compromised after
criminal hackers acquired usernames, email
addresses and hashed passwords’. This is
considered to be one of the biggest hacks
to date, with users since urged to change
passwords and be vigilant for unfamiliar
account activity and communications.
Another example is Age UK’s breach
affecting up to 5,000 past and present
employees at the end of 2017. It was
discovered that ‘an employee’s account
was sending an email with sensitive data
to a non-secure external email account’
and transferring confidential information
outside the charity. Further investigations
revealed that two staff email accounts
had been compromised. Interestingly, this
highlights the risks posed to employee data
and the simple fact that data protection is
also a key HR priority.

In fact, data protection spans across a
business-wide compliance framework,
including access security, paper and
electronic handling and storing of data, HR
and corporate governance, including risk
management and information security. The
more I work through key aspects of the
compliance project, and the documentation
that supports it, the more I discover how
all-encompassing data protection becomes
to business best practice.
With many IT teams, improving system
defences and responses to threats will
be realised as an ongoing and constantly
evolving process – one that always bears
in mind the core data protection principles
when reviewing how data is handled,
transferred, stored and deleted.

This month’s ICO conference provided
fascinating insights into how other data
protection practitioners have been
tackling the challenges of bringing data
protection into people’s working lives as a
prominent and crucial consideration. The
key takeaway for me came from Information
Commissioner Elizabeth Denhams’ latest
ICO newsletter following the conference,
explaining that there is no deadline for
the GDPR: ‘25 May is not the end. It is the
beginning.’
The GDPR has considerable implications for
us all, and I for one am eager to discover
how its compliance shapes and develops
over the next quarter as it takes us into May
and beyond. I hope you are too.

top tips

TO SAFEGUARD YOUR DATA

01

TWO-FACTOR AUTHENTICATION
Also known as 2FA, this is a two-step
verification process that provides an extra
level of security when accessing your
accounts. A common example is adding
a phone number to your email account,
allowing you to link it with your mobile
phone, receiving a unique code via SMS
which must be entered the next time you
log in. You’ll be asked for this code each
time you, or someone pretending to be you,
attempts to log in from a different device.

The

SYNDICATE // collaboration // 32

2FA can be set up on email, cloud services
and and a growing number of online
services. At a minimum, switch it on for your
email; if your email doesn’t offer it as an
option, consider changing providers.

02

ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
This is an essential piece of kit for your
devices to keep them protected and there
are many options on the market. It should

be used in conjunction with other protective
software suitable for your device. With so
many options available, online articles and
reviews can be particularly useful when
pinpointing what software is right for you
– try TechRadar’s Best Antivirus Software
2018 comparison as a starting point. And,
the great thing about having so many to
choose from is the prices on anti-virus
software have tumbled, with the top-of-theline costing less than £50 per year. That’s
not much to pay for peace of mind.

03

CREATE SECURE PASSWORDS
It sounds obvious, but creating strong
passwords can be overlooked as a tedious
and onerous step in IT security. It should be
a key consideration – especially when you
think about the many logins we have across
different sites. Take a look at this blog for
a simple breakdown of best-practice steps
to take when approaching passwords. And
don’t fall trap to reusing a single complex
password everywhere. As soon as one site
is hacked, the hackers will try the email/
password combinations on as many related
sites as they can.

04

05

Phishing emails are used to trick victims
into clicking malicious links, downloading
attachments and malware or transferring
confidential information.

From 25th May 2018, individuals will have
increased rights to challenge how their data
is being used, including the right to object
and the right to erasure. Organisations will
have to provide more options for you to
manage your marketing preferences and
ensure they have the right consents to send
you communications.

BE VIGILANT OF SUSPICIOUS EMAILS

Attackers will often pretend to write to you
from a familiar colleague, company or brand
to catch your attention. Check names and
email addresses carefully before clicking
through any email; if in any doubt, use
a different means of communication to
check whether the person in the ‘from’ field
actually sent the email.
Note, there have been some recent
advancements in systems that make the
spoofing of email addresses difficult. If
you’re looking to add a layer of protection to
your business email address, speak to your
IT manager about DMARC, DKIM and SPF
protection through services such as https://
ondmarc.com; read IT Governance’s blog
for more details.

TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR DATA

One of the main messages from data
protection practitioners is to seize this
opportunity to encourage trust between
businesses and their customers, with
increased transparency to consumers
hopefully resulting in improved consumer
loyalty and relationships. Don’t be surprised
about all of the requests to keep in touch,
the requests to accept new privacy policies
and the constant reminder of tracking that
sites implement.

blockchain
THE ULTIMATE
COLLABORATION TOOL?

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock
this year, you’ll be well aware the words on
everyone’s lips are bitcoin, cryptocurrencies
and blockchain, with people strongly divided
on whether cryptocurrencies are the future,
have no real value or are funding the activity
of the criminal underbelly and dark web.
Whatever your opinion, having bitcoin and
other cryptocurrencies at the centre of
public attention has raised awareness of the
platform bitcoin is built on – blockchain.

SO WHAT EXACTLY IS BLOCKCHAIN?

The

SYNDICATE // collaboration // 34

Blockchain is a decentralised electronic
encrypted ledger in which transactions
made in bitcoin or another cryptocurrencies
are recorded chronologically and publicly.
This decentralised set up and timestamped
record keeping means that blockchain’s
use is not limited to cryptocurrency but
also has wider uses in sharing data, records
and contracts in a way that is secure and
transparent.
If you want a simple but more detailed
explanation, check out this video by Simply
Explained or IBM’s Think Academy example
of tracking diamonds.

BLOCKCHAIN AND SMART CONTRACTS
As an illustration of how blockchain can
facilitate collaboration, let’s use the example
of a contract where we need input from
multiple colleagues.
Typically we email the contract to our
colleague and ask them to make any
revisions. The problem with this scenario is
that there is a delay whilst the other person
works on the document, during which time
no one else can make or see the edits being
made. Or even worse, changes are made
simultaneously and lost as a consequence
because we lose track of the latest version.
An alternative to this would be using Google
Docs, where multiple collaborators can have
simultaneous access to a single version of
a contract and work on it in real time. This
reduces the risk of losing track of versions
and allows for true collaboration.
On a very basic level, this is similar to how
smart contracts work.
A smart contract is one which outlines the
terms of a relationship or transaction but
rather than being enforceable by law, in
the case of standard contracts, a smart
contract is enforced by cryptographic code.
This concept is by no means a new one – it

Amanda
Taylor
Master Investor

was first described in 1990s by computer
scientist and cryptographer Nick Szabo as a
kind of ‘digital vending machine’. When you
choose an item and pay your money to the
vending machine, you are entering into a
contract with the machine to interpret your
request and provide you with your chosen
product to complete the transaction.

CROSS-SECTOR COLLABORATION

Whilst bitcoin’s platform was the first to
support basic smart contracts, it is limited
to transactions with currency.

For example, if EHRs were available on the
blockchain, recruiting for clinical trials could
be automated. A patient’s record could be
updated with their diagnosis, which would
trigger a response that they are eligible
for specific clinical trials – something that
could be particularly useful in rare disease
research. If this research and clinical trial
data was then made available on the
blockchain and open to other pharma and
biotech companies, any failed drugs could
be analysed faster to see if they could be
repurposed for other indications. This open
access approach could help accelerate drug
development, identify alternative uses and
lower costs, making healthcare accessible
for more people.

The

SYNDICATE // collaboration // 36

Ethereum is a platform built specifically for
creating smart contracts and has its own
language that allows developers to write
their own programs and smart contracts.
With this functionality, a contract is created
and broadcast to a network of computers
known as nodes – these could be parties
within the same company or a network
of pre-approved parties from different
companies, or even a completely public
setup. The nodes then verify the contract
according to an automated process based
on set criteria (a type of if-when algorithm),
and once those criteria are met the contract
is verified and the transaction is packaged
with other transactions to create a new
block of data to add to the ledger. The new
block is then added to the blockchain in a
way that is permanent and immutable.
The opportunity to use blockchain for smart
contracts and collaborative working is
already being realised across a number of
industries and could revolutionise the way
we share and integrate data. Healthcare
is an area that could benefit hugely from
the use of smart contracts. For instance,
the electronic health records (EHR) already
used by many of us could be stored
securely on the blockchain and linked to our
health insurance, so that in the case you are
diagnosed with an illness, this block would
trigger a response that automates the claim
for payment.

This sort of collaboration could also
facilitate sharing of best practice, forging
a stronger link between academia,
pharmaceutical companies and healthcare
systems with the aim of advancing
medicine.

One thing that makes me feel we could be
close to achieving this kind of collaboration
is the Linux Foundation’s Hyperledger,
which aims to foster a global cross-industry
collaboration on blockchain technologies.
If Hyperledger succeeds, it could become
the holy grail of innovation by promoting
sharing and repurposing of data via the
blockchain in order to fast-track innovation.
Perhaps this is all blue-sky thinking, but
if blockchain makes such collaboration
possible, we may have a very exciting future
ahead.

The opportunity
to use
blockchain for
smart contracts and
collaborative working
is already
being realised.

ADDING AI TO SILICON

AI will soon be everywhere and transform
many markets, from smart homes to
medicine and finance. Codeplay Software’s
mission is to enable AI to be integrated into
any product. Their immediate focus is on
the automotive space, ultimately reducing
accidents on the road and making safe
autonomous vehicles a reality.
The biggest opportunities (and challenges)
of today simply cannot be tackled by single
entities. There’s no doubt that when it
comes to innovation, the right partnerships
can give startups a strong competitive
advantage. One such partnership can be
between startups and investors.

The

SYNDICATE // collaboration // 38

Finding the right investors is pivotal. There
are many conversations about productmarket fit and founder-market fit, but I
think the power of the founder-investor fit
shouldn’t be overlooked.
Codeplay has just been joined on its
journey by Foresight Group, who are
bringing both investment (£2.1m) and
specialist expertise to the table through
Williams Advanced Engineering. I’m
honoured to have initially brought them
together through SyndicateRoom’s SR
Connect service and very much look
forward to following the results of this
partnership together with the effect it will
have on AI advancements globally.

MirunaGirtu

Strategic Partnerships Manager

SYNDICATE // collaboration // 40
The

Charles
Macfarlane
VP Marketing, Codeplay Software

Codeplay Software
You’re on a mission to enable AI to be
integrated into any product. How are
you looking to achieve that?
The easiest way is through the use of open
standards. By bringing relevant industry
leaders together (processor developers,
semiconductor manufacturers and software
developers), the whole industry can agree
the interface layers – known as APIs
(Application Program Interfaces) – which
means everyone is developing in a way that
is common and compatible.
We’ve now been working with and learning
from global industry leaders and technology
experts for more than 15 years. Over the
course of that time, through constantly
developing and finding out what works,
we have earned a leading reputation
for enabling even the toughest and
most capable processors through openstandards-based solutions. By using widely
agreed and understood open standards,
and revolutionising the PC, mobile and
gaming markets, these implementations
can now be used to bring structure and
efficiency to AI industries.

Codeplay first launched in 2002, operating out of a small second-floor office in Edinburgh

The

SYNDICATE // collaboration // 42

There will always be first-movers that bring
proprietary solutions to market, that create
their own infrastructure and make it difficult
to transition to other platforms. Generally,
these solutions are non-optimal, lack
choice, lack flexibility, are costly and leave
little space for differentiation. While they’re
great for bringing innovative products to
market, there are so many AI innovations
and innovators wanting to do this across
different hardware platforms. That’s what
we at Codeplay are trying to facilitate.

What sectors do you believe to be most
ripe for disruption, as facilitated by
highly intelligent systems?
Today, AI is everywhere, though some
applications are more visible to consumers
than others. Almost every sector is starting
to embrace the very kind of smart systems
that Codeplay can enable:

Cloud servers: massive quantities of
data being processed with the deepest
algorithms

•

Finance: interpreting, predicting and
reacting to market trends

The automotive sector in particular is
now ripe for disruption using AI. Vision
processing and machine-learning systems
in cars allow drivers to delegate certain
decision-making to the vehicle. Advanced
Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) are
already in place in most high-tier cars,
providing features such as adaptive cruise

control, self-parking, lane departure control
and collision avoidance. These and many
more advanced functions will continue to
trickle into mid- and low-tier cars, providing
enhanced safety to drivers and road users.
All car manufacturers and component
manufacturers are scrambling to produce
solutions embracing AI research and vision
processing to benefit the high-value and
high-reward ADAS industry.
We have developed a range of products
called ComputeSuite™ with the aim to bring
AI everywhere. These products have been
developed for use in a range of products,
and in the future will be safety critical tested
and certified for automotive use.

Codeplay’s technology is highly
relevant to the automotive sector and
you recently secured a partnership
with Renesas. How important are
partnerships to facilitating further
innovation in AI?
Safe AI in the automotive sector will be one
of the great uses of the technology. ADAS is
already widely deployed in many cars, but
the level of functionality is still limited, costs
are high and much innovation is yet to be
included.
As development costs increase, car
manufacturers are finding their costs split
in two directions, with around half going
to developing hardware and half software.

But the software costs are escalating, and
OEMs (original equipment manufacturers)
are seeking a route to control these costs
while integrating leading ADAS features.
Additionally, in order for these systems to
continue to be safe, they are evolving to
adopt some of the same features seen in
smartphones, such as over-the-air software
updates. This in turn requires long-term
feature improvements and after-sales
support, perhaps ten to 20 years.
Renesas, a Japanese semiconductor
manufacturer and major supplier of
automotive processors, is enabling next
generation of ADAS and autonomous
car solutions. They quickly aligned with
Codeplay’s vision for building a software
infrastructure based on open standards
to simplify and accelerate AI deployment,
and are endorsing our strategy and vision.
This is a major engagement for Codeplay.
It also sends a major statement within the
automotive industry that enabling AI and
vision processing using open-standardsbased software is the right way to go.
Our tools enable companies developing
applications to focus on their ADAS
innovation, writing software using a familiar
environment. Codeplay’s open-standard
stack allows these applications to run on a
range of Renesas’ R-Car processors.
In the spirit of open standards, our
collaboration with Renesas is not exclusive
and we will be extending the solution with
other processor suppliers, in automotive
and all other AI markets.

LEVEL 0
NO AUTOMATION

All driving tasks are performed by the driver

LEVEL 01
DRIVER ASSISTANCE

Automation levels

The

SYNDICATE // collaboration // 44

The vehicle is controlled by the driver,
but some driving assist features may be
included

LEVEL 02
PARTIAL AUTOMATION

The vehicle has combined automated
functions, like acceleration and steering, but
requires the driver to remain engaged and
monitor the environment at all times

LEVEL 03

CONDITIONAL AUTOMATION
The driver is a necessity, but isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t required
to monitor the environment

LEVEL 04
HIGH AUTOMATION

The vehicle is capable of performing all
driving functions under certain conditions

LEVEL 05
FULL AUTOMATION

The vehicle is itself capable of performing all
driving functions under any conditions

Our solution
will provide support
for applications
with processors that
haven’t even been
developed yet.

Given a future scenario where the
transition to fully autonomous
vehicles is complete, what are some
of the changes you anticipate in the
automotive value chain?
There are six levels of autonomy, commonly
referred to as SAE – Society of Automotive
Engineers – levels [see boxout]. As of
today, only one or two high-end car
models claim to be at Level 3 Conditional
Automation (fusing high-quality maps, radar
and sensors). Most cars now sold have a
minimum of Level 1, with most mid-tier
and high-end containing Level 2 solutions.
Therefore, the route to Level 5 Full
Automation will take a long time, with some
people saying first introductions will happen
around 2025 to 2030; others believe it will
never happen.
There are so many intermediate steps
before we get there, with combinations of
different implementations building up over
time, and each step progressively releasing
control from the driver and adding extra
safety and automation. Level 4 is forecast
to be introduced in production cars

sometime after 2020 and can allow the car
to be autonomous with certain limitations,
for example, only on approved/verified
roads, accepted town centres, acceptable
weather conditions, and for platooning
lorries, where the leading lorry has a driver
and the followers are driverless. This type
of autonomous vehicle already takes us
far beyond today’s position and may be
sufficient to change the car safety and even
car ownership business model (the future
of car ownership is another subject).
We are already seeing an array of sensors
in prototype cars – radar, LiDAR, vision
and ultrasonic. These core sensors can be
supplemented with other sources of data,
like GPS, wheel speeds, steering wheel
position. Also, cameras monitoring the
driver to ensure awareness of a perceived
risk, such as the car approaching an
obstacle while the driver is sleeping or
distracted. All the sources of data need
fusing and interpreting to take the most
appropriate manoeuvre.
Our solution is structured for all of these
applications, from the reduced feature

peripheral imaging devices detecting
specific features, the array of intermediate
implementations, through to a high-end
sensor-fusion with advanced intelligence.
By enabling the developers of advanced
innovation, our solution will provide support
for applications with processors that havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t
even been developed yet. The use of open
standards provides the glue between
applications and processors.

Can you give us an example of a
milestone you look forward to
reaching?
One open standard Codeplay is supporting,
which is highly relevant to enabling AI
everywhere, is SYCLâ&#x201E;˘ from the Khronos
Group, an industry consortium focused on
the creation of open-standard, royalty-free
application programming interfaces (APIs).

The

SYNDICATE // collaboration // 46

A SYCL-enabled processor system provides
application developers with a familiar API
and enables many familiar AI and machinelearning solutions.
SYCL has been gathering momentum
over the last few years with Codeplay
leading this push. Codeplay offers a free
implementation called ComputeCpp
Community Edition, which has thousands
of downloads and has received excellent
feedback, and weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re also driving an
ecosystem bringing developers, news,
releases and updates into one place
via SYCL.tech. In the last few months
many companies are understanding the
importance of this and SYCL is therefore
getting much more interest and attention.
The moment for industry adoption of SYCL
as the platform getting AI everywhere is
here; 2018 will certainly be an interesting
year for both Codeplay and SYCL.

Having a global mindset is essential for
scaling up. What are some of the key
lessons you learned from having clients
across borders?
Codeplay has already worked with the
biggest and greatest companies located
all around the world. However, achieving
a reputation is not dependant on the
company or location, but achieved by
demonstrating and delivering excellence.

One of the bigger challenges of working
with larger companies is aligning Codeplay’s
technology within the corporation’s multiple
organisations. While one group would like
to enable Codeplay’s solution, other groups
either believe they can do it quicker or
cheaper, or do not buy into the strategy.
These challenges are often difficult to
resolve in the short term, and can take
many months of follow-up to convince and
align minds.

All companies have great engineers
that come forward very quickly to help
understand the benefits achieved with
Codeplay. Understanding the hierarchy and
connections at each company helps target
the right people with relevant information.
Face-to-face is great – it totally breaks down
barriers and avoids misinterpretation.
Whiteboard brainstorming and sketching
out thoughts always helps to communicate
any concerns.
Every company wants your tech delivered
tomorrow, but it can take well over
six months to get a project kicked off.
Engineering-level discussions are great and
progressive, but you also need to engage
sourcing departments to get all the supplier
details sorted out e.g. master services
agreements, supplier acceptance and
commercial terms.

Joining forces with the right strategic
investors has the potential to
supercharge companies. When you
were raising funds, how important was
the strategic value that investors can
bring?
There are a lot of VCs out there with a
variety of characteristics and preferences.
It is a complex environment with so many
subtle variables and sensitivities. So, finding
the right investor and the right fund is
tough, and feels like a needle-in-a-haystack
mission. Ultimately, the right investor will
get it, understand your technology, and you
will tick all the right boxes.

Codeplay has traded since 2002 and now
has around 70 employees â&#x20AC;&#x201C; so not your
typical startup nor your typical Series A
fundraiser.

The

SYNDICATE // collaboration // 48

The right investor needed to understand
why Codeplay was on the cusp of making
substantial gains with AI, both into
consumer and automotive. The right
investor needed vision â&#x20AC;&#x201C; to understand or
be open to advanced technology and how
this could impact consumers; they needed
to be connected â&#x20AC;&#x201C; to be linked with relevant
technology industries, demonstrating the
right experience and track record; and they
needed to be able to offer their support
and be capable of staying with Codeplay for
substantial growth, with the ability to invest
further if required.

What excites you most about the
future of AI and how is it going to affect
everyday life?
AI is all around us, yet still at the start of its
growth curve, having only recently passed
the hype stage. It has only just touched
us so far, yet consumers are already

experiencing it positively. There is so much
excitement across many markets that
believe AI has the potential to do so much
more, and companies are making it part of
their strategy or roadmap.
Smart homes, mobile phones,
manufacturing and medicine are starting to
benefit from AI. This will evolve significantly
in the coming years, with the computing
power moving from cloud servers to
embedded devices.
For Codeplay, automotive is the biggest
challenge and the biggest reward. Saving
lives and reducing accidents on the roads is
achievable with AI.

Codeplayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s team now comprises more than 70 people

For Codeplay,
automotive is the
biggest challenge
and the
biggest reward.

SyndicateRoom

THE BROMLEY BOYS
In a time when Hollywood is preoccupied
with flashy portrayals of dystopian futures
and a seemingly endless regurgitation of
old franchises, The Bromley Boys provides a
refreshing return to the joy and heartbreak
of ordinary life.

The

SYNDICATE // collaboration // 50

About 18 months ago, a small UK-based film
production company called Itchy Fish Film
closed its SyndicateRoom funding round,
which helped it secure nearly £500,000
to produce its latest labour of love: The
Bromley Boys, ‘a heartwarming film about
the worst football team in Britain’.
The film is a funny yet touching comingof-age football memoir played out to the
sights and sounds of late-60s/early-70s
Britain. Adapted from the acclaimed
autobiographical novel (full title, The
Bromley Boys: The True Story of Supporting
the Worst Football Team in Britain) by Dave
Roberts, it recounts the author’s highs and
lows supporting his beloved Bromley FC
through their worst-ever season.
At least, that’s what it is on paper. On
screen, it’s a far simpler yet far more honest
celebration of identity as informed by the
things we choose to love – something that,
in the UK at least, more often than not

centres around ‘the beautiful game’. It’s a
love story between a boy and the one thing
he’s thrown his entire affection into – which
in this case happens to be the absolute
worst football team in Britain.
Brenock O’Connor (Oli in Game of Thrones)
is inevitably lovable as the scampish
protagonist David Roberts, precocious and
consistently wading out beyond his depths,
while Alan Davies and Martine McCutcheon
join the cast as David’s parents.
The Bromley Boys is a lighthearted, funny
and genuinely heartwarming film. Filmed in
1970s style, complete with contemporary
music, questionable fashion choices and
some truly beautifully composed shots, The
Bromley Boys is simply a pleasure from
beginning to end.
Sure, by blockbuster standards, the stakes
in the story are set pretty low – there’s no
life-or-death standoff, no ‘chosen one’ upon
whom falls the fate of an entire galaxy.
Instead, what we’re given is a far more
intimate crisis of a small community in Kent.
It’s quite possibly the least pretentious film
you’ll see all year.

MEET...
WARREN DUDLEY
SCREENWRITER

Warren is a screenwriter and occasional
director from Brighton on the South Coast
of England. He has written several feature
film scripts to date as well as working on
TV projects, both commissioned and self
created. While he has penned several
horror/thriller screenplays, his passion
evidently lies in comedy.
‘Warren managed to perfectly capture the
voice of The Bromley Boys book when he
was adapting it. He then came up with an
original and brilliantly constructed storyline
that I wish I’d thought of,’ says Dave Roberts,
author of the book upon which the film is
based. ‘One of the funniest screenwriters
around.’
We spoke with Warren about his experience
of bringing The Bromley Boys to the screen.

What was your approach adapting the
novel to the screen? What were the
challenges?
The main challenge in turning Dave’s
brilliant work into a movie was that the
book takes the form of a diary. It features
game-by-game commentary of Bromley’s
worst-ever season – 1969/70. Although
there are lovely emotional ups and downs
in the text, it needed some traditional movie
elements to take it to the big screen. So I
came along and added a love element and
a more traditional story arc… oh, and a big
ending too.
By the end of the long process, the film
ends up taking on a life of its own, but I
feel it really embodies the spirit of Dave’s
writing. I hope it does, anyway. In fact, large
chunks of Alan Davies’ narration were taken
directly from the book. Thanks Dave!

The

SYNDICATE // collaboration // 52

SR: What’s The Bromley Boys about?
Warren: The Bromley Boys is the story of a
young lad in 1960s Britain and his attempts
to fit in. Initially with the fans of his local,
and beloved, football club Bromley FC and
then with his first love… the Chairman’s
daughter, Ruby. As the story progresses,
Dave gets himself involved in a secret that
may end it all. The fate of the club, and his
new found love, now rests firmly on Dave
Roberts’ shoulders.

The World Premiere of THE
BROMLEY BOYS will be held at
Wembley Stadium on the 24th
of May, after which the film will
play in selected cinemas and
then be released on all main
formats in the lead up to the
World Cup.
www.thebromleyboys.com

When you were writing, did you know
who was going to be cast? If so, did you
write the characters to fit the actors?
We approached Alan Davies and Martine
McCutcheon [pictured on the previous
page] early on and that was very handy –
particularly in writing Alan’s narration. He
has a very distinctive lilt to his voice and
writing with that in mind was lovely. He’s
also a football man like me, so I knew he’d
understand the subtleties and nonsense of
the diehard supporter. Martine is just lovely.
She is so warm on screen and off. It was a
genuine pleasure writing for her too.

The

SYNDICATE // collaboration // 58

As for the rest of the characters, I saw them
really come to life after I’d finished writing
and casting was being done. That’s one of
the most interesting elements of my job. I’d
been imagining these people in my head
for years and it often ends up that they are
nothing like you originally pictured.
All in all, I genuinely could not be prouder
of The Bromley Boys. It’s been a long and
tough process to get to where we are now…
I just hope people enjoy my love letter to
football.

You can find Warren online at
www.sixty6media.co.uk

I just hope
people enjoy
my love letter
to football.

The Big
Investor Survey
2018

The SYNDICATE //

collaboration // 60

New research shows risk appetite on the
rise as half of Britons fail to meet their
financial goals.
In February 2018, we partnered with
research firm FTI consulting to survey 1,000
UK investors on their investing habits and
outlooks, expanding on research conducted
around this time last year for our report,
Tax-Efficient Investing in a Digital World.
What we uncovered was a mixed portrait
of Britain’s retail investors, who are at once
disillusioned with their financial prospects,
embracing of riskier investments (so long as
these point to higher returns) and hungry
for better access to opportunities.
Here are some of our key findings.
•

A worrying 48% of British investors are
failing to achieve their financial goals
– 2% more than in 2016. Millennials
(53%) and women (50%) in particular
say they are ‘off track’

Early-stage equities (startup investing)
and cryptocurrencies are top asset
classes on the higher-risk category, with
10% of UK investors investing in each

•

A staggering 67% of investors expect
returns from early-stage equities to
increase over the next 12 months, with
Millennials (71%) and female investors
(also 71%) most bullish about this asset
class

•

On average, investors would move
12% of their investable portfolio to
early-stage equities if they had more
complete information and better
access to investment opportunities,
with 65% considering a diversified
portfolio of startups helpful in reaching
their financial goals

STRUGGLING
TO KEEP UP

The

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One worrying statistic revealed that half of
UK investors (48%) are failing to achieve
their financial goals. The fact that this
number has increased since 2016 (46%)
suggests that the low-yield economic
environment is having serious effects on the
nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ability to reach its financial goals.
Millennial investors seem worst affected,
with 53% falling short of their goals.
Investors hold mostly mainstream equities
(77%), bonds (33%) and residential property
(30%), but clearly these most popular asset
classes are no longer meeting investorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;
expectations.

The figures around the proportion of
investors – Millennials in particular – who
are not reaching their financials goals are
concerning, especially when you look at the
knock-on effects this has on the nation’s
financial health.
The fear is that as the number of investors
hitting their overall financial targets declines,
more investors may become risk averse.
However, evidence suggests that having a
diverse range of early-stage equities can
prove a key addition to any portfolio.
This diversification could make all the
difference in helping investors hit their
financial goals.

Katy
Levitt

SENIOR ANALYST, SYNDICATEROOM

IS BREXIT
THE CAUSE?

The
The SYNDICATE //

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Interestingly, and in spite of popular
belief, Brexit appears to have left investors
unfazed with 59% claiming the vote it won’t
change how they will be investing over
the next 12 months. In 2016 this finding
was 54%, suggesting investors are getting
accustomed to the new ‘normal’ that Brexit
uncertainty brings.
Almost a quarter (22%) of investors say they
are now more likely to invest. Broken down,
that’s nearly half (49%) of Millennials, onequarter (25%) of Generation X and one in
ten Baby Boomers (10%).

There were many predictions of the impact
a Brexit would generate, but most of the
impact so far seems to be uncertainty
driven. As people become more certain of
the presence of uncertainty, they begin to
relax and return to more normal investing
behaviours.

James
Sore

CIO, SYNDICATEROOM

APPETITE
FOR RISK IS

The SYNDICATE //

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ON THE RISE
Against the backdrop of dwindling returns,
35% of investors have noticed their appetite
for risk increase over the last 12 months.
Further, seven in ten (68%) investors say
they would take on riskier investments if it
gave them a stab at meatier returns. This
number increases to nine in ten (88%)
among struggling Millennial investors.
Cryptocurrencies (10%) and startups (10%)
are the most popular higher-risk asset
classes.

It’s great to see that despite the hype around
bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, earlystage investing is still popular with investors.
It’s easy to see why.
Firstly, in the UK at least it’s a regulated
industry; secondly, it has a track record of
delivering long-term returns.

Marcin
Zaba

HEAD OF MARKETING, SYNDICATEROOM

GREAT
EXPECTATIONS FOR
STARTUP INVESTING

The
The SYNDICATE //

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Early-stage equities (startups) remain
popular for those seeking high-risk highreturn investments, with 10% having
invested in the asset class. Three-quarters
of investors recognise a diversified portfolio
of early-stage equities to be an attractive
investment proposition. However, rising
barriers to investment are stopping
investors accessing this asset class.
56% of investors claim that a lack of
information about investing (up 8% since
2016) is stopping them, while 37% say
that a lack of awareness of opportunities
is a major barrier (up 4% since 2016). On
average, investors would be willing to reallocate 12% of their investable assets into
early-stage equities â&#x20AC;&#x201C; providing they had
ample information on and access to deals.

One-quarter of investors claim that their
early-stage investments have outperformed
their expectations, with two-thirds (67%)
expecting returns to rise in the next 12
months. Millennial investors are more
bullish with their outlook, with 71%
expecting higher returns versus 56% of
Baby Boomers. Women in general are
also more optimistic than men in the
performance of their startup investments
(71% vs 64%).
The prospect of high returns (94%) and
long-term returns (93%) are the main
drivers to invest in early-stage investing,
perhaps unsurprisingly given recent
research suggesting that capital growth in
startups tends to increase at 30% per year.

Clearly there is much to be done on the
awareness front. While there are muchneeded restrictions around who is able to
view opportunities in this riskier asset class,
more should be done to ensure IFAs and
wealth managers do not feel so restricted in
discussing it with their clients.

Tom
Britton

CO-FOUNDER, SYNDICATEROOM

FALLING
AWARENESS OF
TAX-EFFICIENT

The SYNDICATE //

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PRODUCTS
Despite great expectations for early-stage
equities, levels of awareness of the tax-relief
schemes designed to encourage risktaking investors (VCT and EIS) are falling.
Awareness of VCTs has dropped 69% from
77% in 2016, while awareness of EIS has
fallen from 59% to 55%.
Make sure youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re in the know with our
simple EIS cheat sheet.

I challenge Chancellor Philip Hammond to do
more to promote VCT and EIS investments.
Not only are they instrumental to helping
a generation of investors reach their
goals, they’re also the lifeblood of Britain’s
entrepreneurial businesses, which drive the
economy’s job creation and productivity.

Gonçalo de
Vasconcelos

CEO & CO-FOUNDER, SYNDICATEROOM

METRION
BIOSCIENCE
TOTAL RAISED: £506,750
189% funded

The
The SYNDICATE //

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Metrion aims to deliver high-quality ion
channel drug discovery and safety profiling
services to the life-sciences industry.
Metrion provides expert advice and
interpretation in support of client research
programmes, as well as state-of-the-art
cardiac safety profiling, neuroscience activity
models and human translational assays.
Based at Granta Park, Cambridge,
Metrion is a pharmaceutical contract
research organisation specialising in the
sophisticated field of ‘ion channel’ biology.
The company’s expertise lies in its deep
knowledge of ion channel screening
technologies, including manual and
automated assays for determining the
potency and selectivity of drug compounds
against a wide range of human ion channels
important in medicine.
The significance of research into ion
channels is that these proteins are

important therapeutic targets in a number
of fatal and debilitating diseases including
cardiac arrhythmia, high blood pressure,
local anaesthesia, pain, stroke, epilepsy,
depression, bipolar disorder, lung disease,
autoimmune disorders and diabetes.
Furthermore, ion channels have proven
clinical utility for the development of
anaesthetics and analgesics, and have
important applications in testing potential
toxicities of new drugs.
By providing high-quality ion channel data,
an in-depth understanding of the target
class, and targeted screening assays,
Metrion facilitates more cost-effective,
predictive and faster drug development for
its clients.

www.metrionbiosciences.com

CAMBRIDGE
NUTRACEUTICALS

TOTAL RAISED: £1,875,348
188% funded

Cambridge Nutraceuticals develops and
markets health supplements under its
brand FutureYou. The company successfully
overfunded its most recent round, having
previously raised just over £1m on
SyndicateRoom in 2016.
The business has successfully grown
through sales of its launch product
Ateronon and is now extending its range of
clinically proven food supplements under a
new brand: FutureYou.
It has a programme of observational
and clinical studies at leading research
centres around the UK, including the
Cambridge University Hospitals NHS
Foundation Trust and the University of
Sheffield. The company generates revenue
principally through sales made directly to
UK customers, though it also has several
overseas distributors, with Australia being a
particularly significant market.

Since its previous raise on SyndicateRoom
two years ago, Cambridge Nutraceuticals
has grown direct-to-consumer revenue
by more than ten times. Capital raised in
this latest round is intended to fuel further
growth. The majority of funds raised would
be spent on marketing, including scaling up
of existing channels and the development
of new digital channels. The company –
which already boasts 50,000 users – hopes
to increase resources of the new product
development team and support senior
hires.

www.camnutra.com

10to8

TOTAL RAISED: £586,941
117% funded

The

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10to8 is an all-in-one appointment
scheduling software that’s already being
used by over 2,000 companies in more than
30 countries and has facilitated over 1.6m
appointments.
10to8 believes it has cracked the problems
of appointment coordination by creating a
‘communicating calendar engine’ that lets
all parties know what’s happening using
each person’s preferred communication
channels. By actively seeking confirmation,
focusing on error avoidance and aiming for
absolute reliability, 10to8 has the potential
to save people and institutions a great deal
of time and money.
10to8 believes it has a fundamentally
different approach to diary management
and provides an integrated method of
communicating. Communications are how
all bookings are organised in the real world
and vast amounts of time are spent on this
core activity.

10to8 brings the booking conversation from
many channels and focuses them into one
place; from here, the solution automates
the coordination process to potentially
deliver massive savings.

www.10to8.com

FREEDOM ONE LIFE
TOTAL RAISED: £282,015
113% funded

A business developing a new generation of
wheelchairs to empower those with physical
disabilities to lead more independent,
adventurous lives.
Speak to anyone who uses a powerchair
and, whether they’re using it for work or
travelling the world, they’ll undoubtedly
have a horror story about breaking down
and becoming stranded. Existing power
wheelchairs are not built to be used all day,
everyday.
People end up stuck at home if their chair
breaks down – waiting several weeks to get
it repaired. Ultimately, their life is limited
by the limitations of their wheelchair. As a
result, many people aren’t able to rely on
their chairs for going out alone at night or
in bad weather, or venturing far from home;
some never even go on holiday.
If you use a conventional powerchair daily,
it is almost always in your mind. Will it fit on

the bus? It’s raining, will it breakdown? Do
I have enough charge to get home? At the
airport, will they break it?
Freedom One Life want to completely
redefine this experience, they want their
wheelchair to almost be ‘forgotten about’
and for people to focus on their day/life
and trust that their chair will just work as it
should. Its vision is to deliver radical change
to the market, offering a revolutionary
power wheelchair to improve independence
and stretch the boundaries powerchair
users face.

www.freedomonelife.com

Issue // 03 // May 2018

Risk warning: Investing in early-stage businesses
involves risks, including illiquidity, lack of dividends,
loss of investment and dilution, and it should be done
only as part of a diversified portfolio. SyndicateRoom
is targeted exclusively at sophisticated investors
who understand these risks and make their own
investment decisions.

The

SYNDICATE // collaboration // 76

Tax relief depends on an individualâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s circumstances
and may change in the future. In addition, the
availability of tax relief depends on the company
invested in maintaining its qualifying status.
Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future
performance. You should not rely on any past
performance as a guarantee of future investment
performance.
To read the full risk warning, go to
https://www.syndicateroom.com/risk-warning.
This publication has been approved as a financial
promotion by Syndicate Room Ltd, which is authorised
and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (No.
613021). Investments can be made only on the basis
of information provided in each respective investment
opportunity.
Syndicate Room Ltd is registered in England and
Wales. Number 07697935. Registered office: The Pitt
Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1RP.